$190,235,814 For Dairy Products
Date: 1917
This promotional brochure was designed as a talk to encourage the construction of good roads in the state of Kansas. It described comparable rural roads in Wisconsin that promote crop and dairy production.

Andrew Gayden farm house near Dunlap, Kansas
Date: 1935
These are two photographs of the Andrew Gayden farm house near Dunlap, Kansas.

Annual Morris County 4-H Judging School
Date: 1945
In this photograph, 4-H boys judge hogs at the Annual Morris County Judging School. Approximately 500 boys attended this school. This photograph was included in the Chase County Extension Office Annual Report, 1945.

Arizona interests via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: 1882
This brochure encourages travel and immigration to Arizona via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Arizona's history, its various mines, crops, cities, livestock and lumber are detailed. There is a large map of Arizona as well as one of the United States and Mexico showing the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad routes.

Atlas and plat book of Barton County, Kansas
Creator: Kenyon Company (Des Moines, Iowa)
Date: 1916
This atlas and plat book of Barton County contains an outline map of the county, plats of all townships with owners' names, and a Kansas state map showing automobile roads. It also includes a farm animal chart on the health and diseases of horses, cows, hogs, and sheep.

Butchering hogs
Date: Between 1920 and 1929
Men butchering hogs at an unidentified location.

Butchering hogs, Greeley County, Kansas
Date: Between 1920 and 1930
A man butchers hogs, Greeley County, Kansas.

Butchering hogs,Saline County, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1920
This photograph shows a group of men butchering hogs in Saline County, Kansas. At the bottom of the photograph the men have been identified as the following: George Sarver, Worth, Fred McCabe.

Butchering hogs on Nathaniel Dean Athon's farm in Osage, Kansas
Date: Between 1905 and 1910
This is a photograph showing people butchering hogs on Nathaniel Dean Athon's farm in Osage County, Kansas.

Cow, sow and hen train
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company
Date: May 13, 1922
This circular, distributed by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, announces the arrival of the "Cow, Sow & Hen" demonstration train at Osage City. The flyer identifies the speakers and topics and especially invites women to attend. Demonstration trains such as this one represented an alliance between railroad companies, agricultural scientists, and manufacturers to promote settlement, improve farm management, and market commercial farm products. The railroad's Agricultural Development and Publicity Office managed the trains.

Family histories of three families of homesteaders and later their families
Creator: Thummel, Mildred
Date: 1870-1990
Papers and photographs containing information on three families of homesteaders. The material mainly focuses on the Ulin family of Lincoln, Kansas.

Ho! for the new Kansas! The Upper Arkansas Valley. The best thing in the west
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company
Date: September 1876
Promotional flier featuring a map of Kansas titled, "The Finest Climate and Most Prolific Soil in the West." Map depicts the land granted to the Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe Rail Road by the U.S. government to encourage the development of railroads in the West. Shaded areas on the map indicate lands for sale by the railroad along the Arkansas River valley. Promotional text on both front and back markets the land to farmers as "the best wheat land known." It also includes detailed information on towns, schools, lumber, fruit growing, and livestock raising in the region.

J. P. Emery's feedlot, Gray County, Kansas
Date: Between 1910 and 1920
This is a photograph of J. P. Emery's feedlot, Gray County, Kansas. There are cattle and hogs in the lot.

J. P. Emery's feed lot, Gray County, Kansas
Date: Between 1910 and 1920
This is a photograph of J. P. Emery's feed lot, filled with hogs and cattle, Gray County, Kansas.

Jefferson County twenty-second annual fair, Oskaloosa, Kansas
Creator: Jefferson County Agricultural and Mechanical Association
Date: October 5 - 7, 1886
Fair poster advertising livestock, horse racing and other entertainment events to be held in Oskaloosa, Kansas. Sponsored by the Jefferson County Agricultural and Mechanical Association.

John James Ingalls to Elias T. Ingalls
Creator: Ingalls, John James, 1833-1900
Date: October 5, 1858
On his first full day in Sumner, Kansas Territory, Ingalls penned a second letter to his father to convey his first impressions of "that Promised Land." The reality Ingalls found and described was quite different than what was depicted in "the lithographic fiction" he had been shown back East. Other than the hotel, the "city" was composed of a "few log huts and miserable cabins . . . None of the premises are fenced," wrote Ingalls, "the whole place being open to the incursions of dogs and pigs which exist in large numbers and seem in fact to constitute the greater amount of the population." Virtually everything about the place distressed Ingalls, who was "quite unable to convey to you any definite idea of the disappointment, not unmingled with anger and mortification, with which I contemplate the State of affairs here."

John James Ingalls to Elias T. Ingalls
Creator: Ingalls, John James, 1833-1900
Date: April 3, 1860
Ingalls devoted much of his April 3, 1860, letter from Sumner to the territory's agricultural prospects, which were still not particularly good: "Corn, pork, and hides" were Kansas's only exports, and they were not very profitable as prices were low. "Considerable attention," wrote Ingalls, "is being paid to the hemp crop" and the wheat seemed to be doing pretty well; various kinds of fruit also "flourishes. . . . I have never seen finer apples than the farmers across the river bring to market. . . . But little is raised in Kansas yet, though much attention is being given to 'orchardizing' this spring." Ingalls was actually considering a move to the Gold County (Colorado) for better business prospects.

John Wesley McManigal photographs
Creator: McManigal, John Wesley
Date: Between 1934 and 1949
This is a collection of agricultural photographs taken in northeast Kansas by photographer John Wesley McManigal.

Johnson County fair
Date: September 22 - 25, 1891
This poster announces a fair to be held at Edgerton, Kansas, in Johnson County. Events include horse racing, arts and trades, and other amusements. Illustrations of a fair scene and livestock are included.

Kansas. Modern queen of the prairie
Creator: Moore, Roy R.
Date: Between 1940 and 1942
This silent film promotes the agricultural industries in Kansas. Clip one includes wheat and beef cattle. Clip two includes hogs, horses, dairy cattle and corn. Clip three includes grain sorghums, potatoes, poultry, garden crops (cabbage, watermelons, peas, and apples), hay, irrigation, and fish. Photographed by Steve Smith.

Kansas Agricultural Summary, 1937-1938
Creator: Kansas State Board of Agriculture
Date: 1939
This published report contains information about field crop statistics, precipitation totals, yields from wheat, corn, oats, hay, alfalfa, and sorghum crops, and information about livestock. These statistics range from 1866 until 1938. The report is included in the Thirty-First Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture (1937-1938).

Kansas demonstration train. "Cow, Sow & Hen"
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company
Date: May 1, 1922-May 13, 1922
These field notes document the activities of the "Cow, Sow & Hen Special," a farm demonstration train operated by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and the extension office of the Kansas State Agricultural College. The notes document the location, time, weather, attendance, speakers and departure time. The notes reveal the author's expectations concerning the intended audience and its response to the exhibits and instruction. Demonstration trains such as this one represented an alliance between railroad companies, agricultural scientists and, manufacturers to promote settlement, improve farm management, and market commercial farm products. The railroad's Agricultural Development and Publicity Office managed the trains.

Kansas road and bridge funds
Date: Bulk 1917-1918
This Kansas Good Roads Association pamphlet argues that Kansas should invest more in road and bridge construction and maintenance. The card provides one in a series of eleven talks. An illustration demonstrates the difficulties poor roads cause for farmers. Frank Smith is the general manager in Topeka, Kansas.

L. W. Halbe collection
Creator: Halbe, L. W. (Leslie Winfield), 1893-1981
Date: 1908-1912
The L. W. (Leslie Winfield) Halbe photo collection consists of 1500 glass plate negatives produced by Halbe during his teenage years. Halbe lived in Dorrance, Russell County, Kansas, and began taking photographs of the region with an inexpensive Sears and Roebuck camera when he was fifteen years old.

Leigh R. Webber to Esteemed Friend
Creator: Webber, L. R.
Date: September 20, 1862
A letter written by Leigh R. Webber from Trenton, Tennessee, likely addressed to a member of the John Stillman Brown family. Webber describes a "jayhawking trip" his regiment took to take goods and food from a local Confederate family. He discusses the treatment of slaves and escaped slaves, both by Confederate locals and his fellow Union troops. A portion of the letter states Webber's opinions on James H. Lane's efforts to arm African-American troops in Kansas.